Millenial jitters? Or just another case of social contagion in
Japan?

American Atheists, AANews, #367, 19 December 1997

Social contagion—the epidemic-like spread of hysteria and other
states of heightened emotional excitement within a group or
community—may explain some religious miracles and apparitions,
paranormal events, and possibly even Tuesday's bizarre incident in
Japan where hundreds of youngsters were allegedly induced into
seizures and other traumatic states by a cartoon character.

More than 700 people, most of them children, were taken to hospitals
earlier this week after watching an animated television show titled
Pokemon or Pocket Monsters. Symptoms reportedly included
seizures, dizzy spells, loss of consciousness and vomiting. During an
episode of the cartoon which depicted a child and a monster inside a
computer battling a virus program, bright red lights flashed from the
eyes of the program's most popular character, a rat named Pikachu;
initial reports suggest that special effect triggered the odd
reactions.

The incident quickly raised calls for stiffer government controls on
cartoon shows and other children's programming; police in Tokyo
said they would investigate to see if TV officials had been
negligent. The disquieting event also seems to tap into fears
of mind control and other forms of manipulation by media, even
on the level of pop culture scenarios like the movie Videodrome
where people are hypnotized into committing violent acts. The
reactions could be a form of widespread social hysteria, though,
something which has been suggested as a contributing factor to reports
of religious apparitions and even paranormal claims such as flying
saucer sightings.

What is puzzling about the Japan incident, however, is that while 700
people were rushed to hospitals for treatment, symptoms varied
considerably. There is also little evidence to support the claims
that pulsating lights on the television somehow triggered profound
behavior changes and alterations of consciousness.

The documented cases of children with seizures only in response to
video games or television are incredibly rare, noted Dr. Paul
Garcia, a neurologist at the University of California and director of
the epileptic clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. He told the
San Francisco Examiner, though, There is a well-established
phenomenon of seizures that are caused by visual stimulation, specific
to particular patterns or rates or intensity... It is a physical
manifestation of excessive abnormal firing of neurons. But the
paper added that there was no evidence that photosensitive
epilepsy in the general population was triggered by television
cartoons, video games or bright flashing lights. Even in persons
already known to be epileptic, the phenomenon occurs in only about 3%.

A spokesperson for the Epilepsy Foundation of America took a dark view
of the events in Japan, warning that the incident should be a
wake-up call to advertisers, video game producers and TV program
directors to be more aware of the possible risk of seizures from
flashing, strobing and repetitive pattern images on television and in
certain video games. But nagging questions remain. Why hadn't
other incidents of Pokemon or other cartoon episodes triggered
the response? And why doesn't comparable animation, with its
fast- moving pace and flashing light effects, trigger similar
outbreaks in the United States and elsewhere? The New York Times
noted that producers of the show had used these effects hundreds of
times in the past.

Studies in Japan suggest that more than 10,000 persons are afflicted
with what is termed optically stimulated epilepsy, and that the
condition is easily treated with medications. Some doctors say that
the core group of those affected is under twenty years of age.

It is not known, however, how many of the 700 reported cases to
hospitals involve children who were in groups watching the Pocket
Monsters program, and could have been influenced by social
contagion—queuing in on the behavior of other youngsters.
Similar contagion patterns have been cited to explain outbursts of
social hysteria, including the frenzied activities of religious
revivals.

Miracles, Contagion and UFO?

Behavioral scientists and others interested in group dynamics may find
the incident in Japan a treasure trove of information which touches on
several interesting areas. One involves electrical activity in
portions of the brain that could trigger heightened states of
emotional sensitivity, resulting in feelings or hallucinations
centered around religious revelation and feelings of wholeness.

One scientist investigating this phenomenon is Dr. Michael Persinger,
a neuroanatomist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada. As
early as 1982, Persinger was advancing a hypothesis that certain
electromagnetic conditions triggered responses in parts of the human
brain associated with heightened states, including religious feelings.
Since then, Persinger has studied everything from UFO sightings and
reports of luminous, high-energy atmospheric display, to public
apparitions like the alleged sighting of the Virgin Mary at Fatima.
One possible trigger linking these otherwise diverse phenomenon could
be energetic fields resulting from geological activity like
earthquakes. It's a bold hypothesis; but in controlled
experiments, Persinger has managed to replicate ecstatic feelings and
altered states of consciousness in his subjects by surrounding their
heads with electrical emitters. It's interesting to note that
when the PBS program NOVA first showcased Persinger's claim in a
program dealing with UFO sightings, many of the witness reports cited
encounters with bright flashing lights and other visual
stimuli.

The only link between Persinger's investigations and the Japan
outbreaks, though, might be the wider subject of how the electrical
activity in the human brain affects our perceptions of the world
around us, and alters behavior. There is also a wider social context
in which the Japan epidemic occurred—one of heightened
social stress and anxieties in light of numerous factors. The role of
law enforcement authorities is interesting, and early media reports
could not help drawing possibly comparisons between the the threat of
rampant seizures allegedly induced by a childrens'
television show and the sarin gas attacks launched two years ago by
the Aum Supreme Truth cult which injured over 5,000 persons.
Public reaction to the video attack may also be crafted by
heightened social anxieties brought on by Japan's precarious
economic outlook, the assault on traditional cultural and religious
institutions by globalization, a possible threat to established
corporate institutions and policies, and other factors. The notion
that behavior can be controlled by something as prosaic as a
simply television cartoon also plays into deeper feelings of
helplessness—impotence in technological society, and feelings
that one is being controlled or manipulated (even on a subconscious
level) by social or technological elites—a theme rampant in the
contemporary techno-horror genre of movies and literature.

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